


I Like to Think You Hear Me Sometimes

by adequatewriter01



Series: (You Guys Are) The Best Thing that Ever Happened [1]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Alex Mercer Has Anxiety (Julie and the Phantoms), Alex Mercer Has the Brain Cell (Julie and The Phantoms), Alive Alex Mercer & Luke Patterson & Reggie Peters (Julie and The Phantoms), Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Asthma, Basically the boys are idiots, Blood and Injury, Concussions, Exhaustion, F/M, Fainting, Gen, Hurt Alex Mercer, Hurt Reggie Peters (Julie and The Phantoms), Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sick Luke, Sick Luke Patterson, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-15 04:49:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28557891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adequatewriter01/pseuds/adequatewriter01
Summary: Sometimes, Julie felt like she was a mother. A mother with three idiot children who wouldn't know self-preservation if it hit them in the face. She really needed to start limiting their caffeine intake.
Relationships: Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Series: (You Guys Are) The Best Thing that Ever Happened [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2102592
Comments: 23
Kudos: 299





	I Like to Think You Hear Me Sometimes

**Author's Note:**

> College AU where the boys never died and they exist in Julie's universe, where the four of them go to the same college and live in an apartment together.  
> Here's my first oneshot, hope you enjoy! It ended up being a little longer than I wanted, but that's okay. I'm still working on my multi-chapter fic, but I wanted to post this one before I updated my other one.  
> Title comes from the song Nana by The 1975.

_ Luke _

Julie hated winter. Yes, she lived in California, but UC Davis was colder than her home in Los Angeles. Okay, not that much colder, but that’s besides the point. The point was, she hated winter, and for reasons other than it just being cold outside. Winter meant flu season, and while Julie was always prepared for the worst, she couldn’t say the same for her boys. 

Alex was definitely the healthiest of the three, keeping packets of Emergen-C stocked in the bathroom for when someone in the apartment inevitably caught a cold. With his constant stress and anxiety wearing down his immune system, he did manage to get sick a couple of times each year, but overall he was pretty good at avoiding germs. 

Reggie got sick more than Alex, but not enough to overly concern Julie. As long as someone reminded him that maybe it wasn’t a good idea to eat food that he found on the ground and that he should  _ not _ lick a doorknob, even if Luke said he would give him $5, he was relatively healthy. 

Luke was by far the worst. With his constant need to wear cutoff tees and the inability to keep his guitar pick out of his mouth, he got sick countless times every year. His tendency to catch every illness that came his way wouldn’t be that big of a deal if it weren’t for the fact that Luke had asthma. Usually it wasn’t bad enough to cause any problems, but when the air got cold and dry or he was fighting off a virus, his asthma would flare up. This, again, wouldn’t be a huge problem if Luke just took his meds.

The problem was, Luke  _ hated _ admitting when he was sick. He would refuse to use his inhaler until forced by one of his bandmates, who usually weren’t successful in their efforts until his asthma got really bad. So, when Julie walked into their apartment on a Tuesday afternoon in January and heard coughing coming from the kitchen, she desperately hoped that it wasn’t Luke. Of course, she rounded the corner to find Luke stifling a cough into his elbow. Great. And she thought she was going to have a good week. 

Luke must not have heard Julie enter the apartment, because he was humming some upbeat song quietly to himself while facing away from her. She quietly placed her keys on their hook and watched as he poured an ungodly amount of cream and sugar into his cup of coffee. Julie was determined to keep Luke’s asthma in check this time, and she was not going to accomplish that if she couldn’t get him to sleep off his cold before it got worse. With his coffee in hand, Luke finally turned around and spotted Julie. He smiled brightly and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek before greeting her warmly. 

“Hey Jules, how was class?” he asked, raising his mug to his mouth.

“It was fine,” Julie responded while stealing the cup of coffee from Luke’s grasp before he could take a sip. He furrowed his brow and attempted to grab it back, but Julie dumped it down the sink before he could. “No coffee for you, it’s 5 pm. I have a lab tomorrow morning, and I refuse to listen to you play guitar at 2 am again.” While Luke pouted at her, Julie grabbed two clean mugs and a box of eucalyptus tea from the cabinet then heated a kettle of water over the stove. “Can we lay down and take a nap? I don’t feel good.” 

Since they had started dating, Julie had learned fairly quickly that, while he was awful at taking care of himself, Luke would do almost anything to help Julie feel better when she was sick. So, instead of fighting Luke to try to get him to rest, she found it was easier to make him think he was helping her. She had pulled the fake sick card on Luke at least a dozen times, and he still had yet to catch on. She loved the boy to pieces, but sometimes he could be a little oblivious.

Luke’s pout turned into a frown, and he placed the back of his hand on her forehead. “You don’t feel warm, but maybe you’re coming down with something,” he reasoned, concern shining in his eyes. “You wanna lay down on the couch or your bed?”

“Couch please,” Julie replied, wrapping her arms around his waist and leaning into his chest. Luke immediately hugged her back and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, then let out a soft cough. She could already hear him wheezing. Dammit, this was going to be more difficult than she thought. 

“Okay, can you grab your tea while I set up the couch?” Luke questioned while pulling away slightly to look at her face. Julie nodded and let go of Luke before turning to drop a tea bag into each of the two mugs on the counter and pour the boiled water over them. Behind her, she could hear Luke moving around in the living room, coughing occasionally while he thought she couldn’t hear him. God, her boyfriend was an idiot. Julie picked up the steaming mugs and carefully carried them over to the couch, where Luke was already waiting for her with a pile of blankets and the TV remote. She handed a mug to the brunette, who took it with a puzzled look on his face. “Okay, first you confiscate my coffee, then you force me to drink your leaf water?” he teased, setting his mug down on the end table and pulling Julie onto the couch to lay against his chest. 

“Shut up, you dork, you love eucalyptus tea.” Julie rolled her eyes and took a drink from her mug, then placed it on the coffee table in front of her and snuggled back into her boyfriend. “Besides, it’s not nap time without tea.”

“Says who?”

“Me.”

“It’s a good thing you’re cute,” Luke smirked and brought the mug to his lips, taking a sip of his tea and settling down into the couch. Despite his joking tone and initial protests, Julie could tell that the warm liquid instantly soothed Luke’s likely sore throat and the eucalyptus opened his airways slightly. Luke opened Netflix on the TV and turned on an episode of  _ Criminal Minds _ that both of them had already seen, but still enjoyed. Twenty minutes into the show, Julie felt Luke’s breaths even out behind her, and she twisted slightly to see her boyfriend passed out against the back of the couch. She sighed in relief, then turned her attention back to the TV, careful not to wake the sleeping boy. Immediately after the episode ended and she started a new one, Julie heard the door to the apartment unlock. Hopefully whoever it was could help her bully Luke into actually taking care of himself for once. 

Reggie emerged from the entryway, and, upon seeing Luke asleep on the couch with Julie leaning against him, sighed and cursed softly. “He’s sick again, isn’t he?” he said quietly. 

“Yeah,” Julie sighed. “How’d you know?”

“Besides the fact that he’s a shade paler than normal and I can hear him wheezing from here, when’s the last time you saw Luke sleeping before 10 pm?”

Julie glanced at the clock to see it was nearly 7 pm. Reggie was right; Luke usually had far too much energy to fall asleep this early. She sighed again, and shifted so she could lay the back of her hand on his forehead. “Shit, I think he has a fever too,” she said to Reggie, running her fingers gently through Luke’s fringe. “Can you check to see if his inhaler is in the medicine cabinet? I have a feeling we’re gonna need it.”

“Yeah, I’ll go look,” responded Reggie before he disappeared into the bathroom. He returned a few seconds later and confirmed that Luke’s inhaler was where it was supposed to be, then sat down softly next to Julie and a sleeping Luke on the couch. After another hour of Netflix, Julie and Reggie managed to wake Luke and maneuver him to his room, where he immediately fell back asleep without putting up a fight. 

Maybe she was wrong, she thought. Maybe this time wouldn’t be that bad. 

* * *

It was definitely that bad.

Since she had first realized her boyfriend was sick two days before, Luke’s illness had gotten increasingly worse despite Julie’s attempts to get him to rest and use his inhaler.

So when she walked into his room to ask him about a new song she was writing only to find him in the middle of an asthma attack, she wasn’t really surprised.

“Fuck, REG, ALEX,” she yelled as she ran to where Luke was sitting crouched over on the edge of the bed, struggling to breathe. Julie sat behind him and pulled him up to lean back against her chest, making him gasp. God, only her idiot boyfriend would rather suffocate by himself rather than ask one of his friends for help. 

At that moment, Alex and Reggie both ran into the room, their eyes widening simultaneously. “Reggie, inhaler,” Julie demanded, and Reggie rushed towards the bathroom. “Alex, can you set up his nebulizer, I think this might be a bad one.” Alex nodded, then moved from his spot in the doorway to Luke’s closet, which contained both the requested device and the albuterol packets. 

Having given the two boys their tasks, Julie turned back to the wheezing brunette propped up against her. “Luke, I know it’s hard, but you need to try and breathe for me,” she urged, rubbing his back softly with one hand and grabbing his hand with the other. Luke squeezed her hand weakly, then drew in the deepest breath his lungs would allow. “Good, hun, just like that. You’re okay, just keep breathing.” 

Reggie ran back into the room holding the inhaler, which he forced into Luke’s mouth before depressing the canister. Luke held his breath, then let it go after a couple of seconds before attempting to breathe normally. While his wheezing lessened slightly, the guitarist still wasn’t getting enough air so he reached to grab his inhaler from Reggie with a shaky hand. Luke was still struggling to breathe after a couple more puffs from the inhaler, and Julie was afraid that, if the nebulizer didn’t work, they were in for a hospital trip.

Thankfully, Alex recognized that Luke’s breathing was still labored so he brought the assembled device over to the bed and handed the mask to Luke, who put it over his nose and mouth. With the albuterol opening his airways and finally allowing him to breathe, Luke closed his eyes and relaxed into Julie, making her, along with Alex and Reggie, sigh in relief. The four sat quietly until the medication in the chamber ran out and Luke removed the mask from his face. He took a deep breath, then rolled his head to the side to look up at Julie. “Sorry Jules,” he rasped, looking sheepish. “Didn’t realize it was that bad.”

Julie shifted so she was sitting next to Luke with his head resting on her shoulder. She desperately wanted to yell at her boyfriend for refusing to listen to her, but she knew it wasn’t the time. Instead, she pulled him into a gentle hug, careful not to squeeze him too hard in fear of constricting his lungs, and buried her face into his neck. Julie felt the other two boys join her in embracing Luke, Alex trembling to her right and Reggie crying silently into her left shoulder. “You scared me,” she mumbled into Luke’s shoulder. She moved away and took Luke’s face in both of her hands, looking directly into his hazel eyes. “Don’t do that ever again.”

Luke chuckled softly. “Yeah, I’d rather not repeat that,” he said tiredly, eyes drooping. “Not my finest moment.” 

Reggie snorted and whispered, “No shit,” before helping Alex lay Luke down on his bed as Julie pulled the comforter over his body. 

“Get some sleep,” Julie whispered, pressing a kiss to the brunette’s forehead. “We’ll talk about this in the morning.” Luke didn’t respond, having fallen asleep the moment his head touched the pillow. 

Julie was hoping that, one of these days, her boyfriend would learn to actually take care of himself. For now, though, she and her boys would do it for him. 

  
  


_ Alex _

It was common knowledge that Luke, Alex, and Reggie all shared one brain cell. It was also common knowledge that, the majority of the time, Alex was in possession of that brain cell. The only time that the other two boys got to share the brain cell was when Alex’s anxiety convinced him to do something incredibly dumb. Unfortunately for everyone, this was one of those times. 

It was the middle of the semester, which meant that it was time for midterms. While Alex could usually deal with the stress of exam week, he had just gotten a call from his parents, who had lectured him about his grades and how he needed to do well in all of his classes in order to keep his scholarship. In addition to the stress from his upcoming exams and the added pressure from his parents, Alex had a paper due in his English class in 4 days. English was the class that he was doing the worst in (he had an 89%) and the paper was worth 20% of his grade, so he really needed to do well on it. The only way to do this, he determined, was to stay up late to work on it. Which turned out not to be the smartest idea because, after three consecutive days with two hours of sleep each night, Alex was running on fumes. 

“How many cups of coffee is that now?” Julie joked, coming into the kitchen to see Alex pouring creamer into his mug.

“Uh, I don’t know. Five maybe?” Alex shrugged, taking a sip.

Julie’s eyes widened. “‘Lex, I was kidding.” She moved to take the coffee out of Alex’s hands. “Have you been sleeping okay?”

“Yeah, I’m good,” Alex mumbled, glancing longingly at his stolen mug before grabbing his laptop from the counter and sitting at the dining table. “I’ve just got three exams and a paper due next week and my parents have been on my back, so I’ve been a little anxious lately.”

“Alex, I get that you’re stressed, but you still need to sleep.” Julie set Alex’s coffee on the counter then sat down next to her blond friend. “You’ve been studying non-stop all weekend, you’re gonna do great.”

“But I still have to finish my English paper and practice for my performance for our music class, and I haven’t even  _ started _ looking at my chemistry notes-”

“Alex! Breathe. How about we take a quick break, then I’ll help you study for chemistry. Sound good?”

Alex sighed, and his shoulders slumped. “Yeah, okay. I can do that.”

Julie stood, then took Alex’s hand and helped him up before leading him to the couch. The two sat down and Julie turned on  _ Queer Eye _ , leaning against Alex. They watched the show in silence, Alex slowly melting into Julie’s side until he started snoring softly against her shoulder. 

Well, that was easy.

Julie turned off the TV and pulled out her phone to play a game until Alex woke up, shushing Reggie and Luke when they entered the apartment and giggled at the pair on the couch. About an hour later, Alex shifted on her shoulder and opened his eyes.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to fall asleep,” he murmured.

“It’s okay,” Julie soothed. “You needed it. Ready to study some chemistry?”

Alex rolled his eyes. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

* * *

Julie thought that after getting Alex to take a nap and helping him study for his exams, he would actually get some sleep.

Turns out, it wasn’t that easy.

When she woke up the following morning, she went straight to the kitchen to find Luke and Alex, both (surprisingly) dressed and ready for the day. As always, Luke was vibrating with energy, but Alex just looked exhausted. He was leaning back against the counter with a cup of coffee in hand (of course), looking at Luke with glazed eyes and nodding occasionally to acknowledge whatever the guitarist was saying. 

“I thought I told you to sleep?” Julie remarked as she headed toward the boys. 

“I tried, but my mind wouldn’t shut off,” Alex explained, drinking his coffee. She should have known that, even without staying up to study for his exams, Alex’s anxiety would keep him awake. 

“Why didn’t you come get me?” Luke frowned, shifting closer to Alex.

“I’m not gonna wake you up at 3 am just because I’m a little anxious, dude. I’m fine.”

“‘Lex, if you can’t sleep, I wanna help, I don’t care what time it is-”

“I said I’m  _ fine _ Luke, just leave it alone.” Alex finished his coffee in one large gulp and set his empty mug on the counter. “I have to get to class,” he snapped, grabbing his backpack and keys from the entryway and disappearing before anyone could protest.

“Someone’s grumpy today,” Luke mumbled, sipping at his own coffee.

Julie shot him a look. “He’s just stressed about exams, and his parents called him about his grades, so he hasn’t been sleeping.”

Luke cursed. “His parents called him?”

“Yeah, and you know Alex, he’ll stress himself out to the point of collapse trying to please them even though they’ve been assholes to him.”

“I could  _ kill _ them.”

“Luke,” Julie sighed, “can you just keep an eye on him in class today? I’m worried about him.”

“Yeah, don’t worry I’ll watch him.” Luke paused. “Shit, class!” He practically inhaled the rest of his coffee, then grabbed his backpack and ran to the door of their apartment. “Later Jules!” he yelled over his shoulder, then was gone.

Julie rolled her eyes and moved to the fridge to grab some breakfast. God, she lived with complete idiots. 

* * *

After a long day of classes, Julie trudged into her apartment, ready for a nap. 

Unfortunately, that wasn’t what was waiting for her when she got there. 

Instead, Luke and Alex were, once again, in the kitchen, the drummer sitting at the kitchen island glaring over his laptop at the guitarist standing across from him.

“What’s going on?” Julie asked as she set her backpack down in the entryway and walked into the kitchen.

“Alex refuses to take a break from studying and rest even though he almost fainted on our way to chemistry this afternoon,” Luke accused, moving around the counter to stand in front of Alex.

“I’m sorry,  _ what _ ?” Julie exclaimed.

“I did  _ not _ , he’s being dramatic.” Alex defended.

“We had to stop and sit outside the library for, like, 5 minutes because you got dizzy, Alex!” 

“Okay, why don’t we just calm down for a sec-”

“No, Julie, there’s something wrong, Alex needs to-”

“Oh my  _ god _ , Luke, I’m fine!” Alex stood abruptly from his chair and immediately swayed on his feet, closing his eyes tightly. 

“Woah, you okay?” Julie questioned, stepping forward to catch his elbow so he wouldn’t fall. 

“‘Jus’ a little dizzy,” Alex responded, dropping his head and breathing deeply. 

Luke grabbed his arms and eased him down to the floor. “Sit down before you pass out, dumbass.” As soon as Luke got him on the ground, Alex pitched forward into Luke’s chest. The brunette caught his head, then started shaking his shoulder. “Shit, Alex? Alex, wake up.” He looked up at Julie, panicked. 

“Lay him down, I’ll be right back,” she ordered. Julie ran to the bathroom and grabbed a washcloth, wetting it with cold water from the sink, before rushing back to the kitchen where Luke had laid Alex on his back. She wiped the blond’s forehead with the damp towel with one hand while patting his cheek with the other. “Alex, sweetie, wake up.”

Maybe thirty seconds later, Alex groaned and his eyes fluttered open. “Thank god,” Luke muttered from behind her. Hearing Luke’s voice, Alex shifted, attempting to sit up to get to his friend.

“No, Alex, stay down for a second,” Julie insisted, putting a hand on the drummer’s shoulder. 

Alex blinked at her. “Wha’ happened?” 

“You passed out,” Luke responded, and he moved to sit closer to Alex’s head. “This is what happens when you don’t sleep, bro, you’re exhausted.”

“No, ‘m good.” Alex fought to get up again, so Julie gave up on keeping him down and helped him sit up slowly, pushing him to lean back against the counter. 

“Stay here,” she sighed, then turned to Luke. “Don’t let him get up, I’ll be right back.” Leaving Alex in Luke’s semi-capable hands, she went to her room to grab her phone and call Willie. She did her best to help Alex, but sometimes his boyfriend was the only one who could calm his anxiety. If Julie and Luke couldn’t get Alex to sleep, Willie definitely could. 

Julie quickly dialed Willie’s number and explained the situation. Willie just sighed and murmured something about his  _ idiot boyfriend _ before promising he would be right over. Thank god he lived in the apartment next door; this wasn’t the first time Julie had to call Willie, and him living a whole 30 seconds away was essential for both Alex’s mental health and her own sanity. 

Confident that Willie was on his way to resolve the situation, Julie returned to the kitchen to find Luke and Alex arguing, the blond still (thankfully) sitting on the floor while the brunette was crouched in front of him with his hands on the drummer’s shoulders. 

“Lucas, I’m literally  _ fine _ , let me up, my chemistry exam is tomorrow-”

“Dude, for the last time, you  _ passed out _ , you’re not fine.” Luke turned and sagged in relief when he heard Julie’s footsteps coming toward them. “Jules, help me out here.”

After taking a detour to the fridge to grab Alex a bottle of water, Julie made her way back over to her bandmates. “Alex, can you just sit there for a second, please?” She handed him the water bottle. “Drink this, then you can get up.”

Alex pouted, but took the water from Julie and started drinking it. By the time he finished, there was a knock on the door. “Come in!” Julie shouted over her shoulder. Thank god she left the door unlocked. Willie entered the apartment and headed straight to Alex, who was eyeing his boyfriend with confusion.

“Hi babe, what are you doing here?” Alex questioned.

“Julie called me and told me that you’re an idiot,” Willie exclaimed, pulling Alex in for a tight hug. 

“Hey, I’m not an idiot.”

“No, you’re a dumbass.”

“Luke-”

“ _ Hey! _ ”

“Alex, you need to  _ sleep _ before you pass out again, so we’re taking a nap.” Willie interrupted, daring Alex to resist him.

“But-” Alex looked at the three pairs of eyes staring him down, then relented. “Fine.”

Willie beamed, then hooked one of Alex’s arms over his shoulder while Luke took his other side. The three boys stood, Alex swaying a little bit, but staying on his feet, before they moved slowly over to the couch. Willie laid down on the couch and pulled Alex on top of him, and the blond relaxed into his chest immediately. 

“Sleep, babe, I’m right here,” Willie soothed, running his fingers through Alex’s hair.

Alex’s eyes drifted shut, then back open and he gazed up at Luke. “Sorry for arguing with you,” he mumbled.

“Don’t worry ‘bout it bud,” Luke responded, squeezing the blond’s shoulder. Alex hummed in response, then promptly closed his eyes and fell asleep. Assured that Alex was taken care of, Luke rushed back into the kitchen and hugged Julie tightly.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Julie questioned, rubbing Luke’s back gently.

Luke buried his face in Julie’s shoulder, and she swore she felt tears soak through her shirt. “He scared me.”

Julie wrapped her arms around her boyfriend. “I know, he scared me too. But he’s okay now, I promise.”

“Sometimes I wish he would just  _ tell us _ when there’s something wrong before stuff like this happens.”

“You’re tellin’ me.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing, babe, nothing.”

  
  


_ Reggie _

“Reggie, what in the world are you doing?”

Julie walked into the living room on Friday morning and saw her brunette friend sitting on the floor with a bundle of rope, duct tape, and a hanger laid out in front of him. 

“Oh, hey Jules!” Reggie exclaimed, a smile on his face despite the fact that it was 8 am. “I’m just building something.”

“Any chance you’re gonna tell me what you’re building?”

“Nope!” Reggie beamed up at her. “You’re just gonna have to find out when you get home later.”

Julie rolled her eyes and chuckled. “You dork. Don’t you have class today?”

“No, I don’t have class on Fridays.”

“Okay, well, don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone, Reg.”

“When have I ever done something stupid?”

Julie glared at Reggie.

“Nevermind, don’t answer that,” Reggie glanced up at Julie sheepishly, then hopped up from the carpet and walked over to the kitchen. “What are you up to today, Julie?” he asked, grabbing a Red Bull from the fridge.

“Uh, I’ve got statistics and biology this morning, music this afternoon, and then I’m probably spending the night at Flynn and Carrie’s.” Julie replied, following her friend and snagging a granola bar and tucking it into her backpack. 

Reggie pouted. “You’ll come back to see what I build though, right?”

“Yes, Reg, I’ll come back to see what you build.”

“Sweet.” Reggie took a sip from his energy drink, then jumped up to sit on the counter. “When are you leaving for class?”

Julie glanced at the clock on the microwave. “Uh, right now.” She ran and gave Reggie a quick hug, then rushed toward the door. “See you later Reg!” she shouted, and then she was gone.

* * *

Some may think that, as the oldest member of Julie and the Phantoms, Reggie would have the most common sense. While he was a genius when it came to math and could beat anyone at a game of poker, he didn’t necessarily think before he acted. This much was obvious when Julie came home from class that day to find Reggie sitting on the couch with a cut on his forehead gushing blood while Alex stood in front of him, trying his best to stop the bleeding with a wad of paper towels. And to think she was planning on having a nice, relaxing evening with Flynn and Carrie. 

“What the  _ hell _ happened?” she demanded, scrambling to take over for Alex, whose hands were shaking while trying to put pressure on Reggie’s forehead.

Alex gratefully stepped back, and ran to the bathroom to grab a rag. “I dunno,” he stammered, coming back into the room and handing the towel to Julie. “I got here like five minutes ago and found Reggie bleeding all over the patio.” Julie glanced toward the sliding glass door and, sure enough, there was a trail of blood coming from their outdoor patio. She turned back to Reggie and switched out the blood-soaked paper towels with the clean rag that Alex had given her.

“Reggie,” Julie started, voice calm, “what  _ happened _ ?”

Reggie looked up at her with tears in his eyes. “You’re gonna yell at me.”

“Why would I yell at you?”

“Because you told me not to do anything stupid.”

“I won’t yell, I promise, just tell me what happened.”

Reggie took a deep breath. “So, you know how ‘lex gets anxious a lot and Willie usually helps him?” Julie nodded. “Well, I thought it would be a good idea to build a zipline from our apartment to Willie’s so he can get over here faster and-”

“Hold on, you built a  _ what _ ?” Alex exclaimed.

“Alex,” Julie warned, “no yelling.”

“Sorry,” Alex mumbled.

Julie looked back at Reggie expectantly. “Keep going, Reg.”

“Okay, well,” Reggie continued after a glance at Alex, “I wanted to see if it would work so I tested it, and uh, I guess it didn’t work very well because it broke and I fell and hit my head.” Reggie winced when Julie pressed the towel more firmly against his head. “So I’m kinda thinking it’s not the best idea because I don’t really want Willie to fall and hurt himself and now my head really hurts and I don’t feel very good.”

“Wait, what do you mean you don’t feel good?” Julie questioned, concerned.

“I’m kinda dizzy and my stomach hurts.”

Well, he may not make the smartest decisions, but at least one of the three boys was honest about how they were feeling. 

“Do you feel like you’re gonna throw up?”

“Kinda.”

“Shit,” Julie sighed.

“What?” Alex asked, moving from his spot behind Julie.

Julie turned to face the drummer. “He totally has a concussion.”

“Shit,” Alex agreed. 

“Okay.” Julie shifted back toward Reggie. “I’m gonna try to stop this bleeding, but then we’re gonna have to go to the hospital.”

“What? No. I’m fine, no hospital.”

“Reg.” Alex sat down next to the bassist. “We think you hit your head really hard when you fell, so you need to go to the hospital.”

Reggie sniffled. “Why can’t Julie fix it?”

“Bud, I can’t fix this.” Julie lifted the bloodied towel from Reggie’s forehead, then, seeing that the wound was still bleeding, pressed it back against the brunette, apologizing when he flinched in pain. “We need to make sure you didn’t hurt your head too bad, and we can only do that at the hospital.”

Reggie frowned, but nodded. After around fifteen minutes, when she had slowed the bleeding enough to trust Reggie to hold the towel against his own head, Julie left the two boys in the apartment and went to move her car from the parking lot to the street in front of their building. She parked, then went inside and helped Alex move Reggie into the car. Satisfied that Alex could handle Reggie for the time being, she started the car and headed to the nearest hospital. 

* * *

Two hours and nine stitches later, Julie, Alex, and Reggie reentered the apartment to find Luke sitting on the couch bouncing his leg. When he heard the door open, he shot up and launched himself at Julie, pulling her in for a hug.

“I know we were gone for a while but it wasn’t  _ that  _ long,” she joked.

Luke looked up at her, eyes wide in fear. “Jules, you can’t do that! I came home to an empty apartment and  _ blood _ on the living room floor, and no one would answer my calls.”

Julie looked down at her phone, and saw that she had 27 missed calls from her boyfriend. Whoops. She looked at Alex, who was helping a slightly unstable Reggie into the apartment. He shrugged, then shot his alarmed friend a guilty look. Great, no one told Luke. “I’m sorry, babe, Reggie has a concussion and needed stitches, and you know how he gets with pain meds, so we were really busy and I totally forgot to tell you that we were at the hospital-”

“Wait,” Luke interrupted, apparently already having forgotten about his panic over his friends’ disappearance, and helped Alex deposit Reggie gently on the couch. “How did Reg get a concussion?”

“He was trying to build a zipline from our apartment to Willie’s so he could get here faster, or something, I don’t know,” Julie huffed.

“Wait, hold up. Reggie built a  _ zipline _ ? That’s genius!”

“No, Luke, it is  _ not _ genius, we live on the first floor.”

“Yeah, so?”

“Alex can  _ walk _ to Willie’s apartment, he doesn’t need a zipline,” Julie argued, then glanced at Reggie in confusion. “Also, how did you manage to get a concussion if we live on the  _ first floor _ ?”

“Uh, I’m special?”

Alex snorted. “We already knew that, Reg.”

“Okay,” Julie snapped, “Reggie is going to sleep, and we will deal with the zipline situation tomorrow.” She looked at Alex and Luke. “Got it?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Absolutely.”

“Good,” she said, and turned her attention to Reggie. “Okay, Reg, ready for bed?”

Reggie looked up at Julie and directed a loopy smile at her. “Okayyy Julie.” He stood from the couch and stumbled into Alex, who caught him and helped keep him upright. “Can we all sleep in my room tonight?”

Julie glanced at Reggie, determined to tell him no and that he needed to sleep (the three boys all in one room never ended well), but one look at his face and she knew she couldn’t refuse him. She sighed and looked to Luke and Alex, who both nodded enthusiastically, before turning back to the bassist. “Okay bud, lets go sleep in your room.” The two unharmed boys helped their concussed friend to his room while Julie went around the apartment to gather pillows and blankets. Around 30 minutes later, Reggie was asleep in his bed with his bandmates piled on the floor below him. Alex was snoring softly a few feet away from Julie, and Luke was curled up next to her. Now that everything was calm, Julie took a second to reflect on her day. Reggie  _ had _ hit his head pretty hard, but he only had a minor concussion and would be fine. She had texted Flynn and Carrie earlier to tell them that she wasn’t going to be spending the night, and, thankfully, they were well aware of Reggie’s lack of common sense, so they understood why she was bailing on their girls night. There was also the issue of the blood all over their living room and patio, plus they had to clean up Reggie’s broken zipline, but that was a problem for tomorrow, after everyone had gotten some sleep. Content that she had taken care of everything urgent, Julie closed her eyes, snuggled into her boyfriend, and tried to fall asleep. 

She had almost drifted off, but a voice to her right forced her awake. 

“Hey Julie?”

“Yes, Luke, what is it?”

“Can I build a zipline to Reggie’s room?”

“ _ No more ziplines! _ ”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, hope you liked it! Feel free to share any ideas for other hurt/comfort fics I should write about the boys. Also, I was thinking about writing a RPF, so let me know if you think that's a good idea or not. Have a great day!


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